Sony Ericsson today announced the much rumored PlayStation Phone, or more precisely the Xperia PLAY, the latest phone in its Xperia range of Android based smartphones.
In portrait mode, the Android smartphone offers all the benefits that users have come to expect from Sony Ericsson's existing range of Xperia smartphones, a 5 megapixel camera, a 4" multi-touch screen and integrated social networking features.
However, slide out the gaming control and the phone switches to gaming mode. The slide out game pad reveals a digital D pad, two analogue touch pads, two shoulder buttons and the four PlayStation icons: circle, cross, square and triangle. Qualcomm's optimized Snapdragon processor with a 1Ghz CPU and embedded Adreno GPU graphics processor deliver 60fps play-back 3D mobile gaming and Web browsing with minimal power consumption so Xperia PLAY users can enjoy a battery life of up to 5 hours of game play.
Xperia PLAY will run on Gingerbread (version 2.3), the latest version of Google's Android platform. The Xperia PLAY will also be the first PlayStation Certified device. This means it will have access to PlayStation game content provided through the PlayStation Suite initiative, currently under development by Sony and due to launch later this calendar year.
Sony Ericsson has partnered with key publishers in the gaming industry to deliver a rich ecosystem at launch and post launch with many leading new titles available via the Android Marketplace. Leading franchises coming to Xperia PLAY includes EA's Need For Speed, Sims 3 and a multiplayer version of FIFA 10 for mobile. GLU Mobile/Activision will be bringing Guitar Hero while Gameloft's titles include Assassin's Creed and Splinter Cell.
A pre-loaded application will enable users to easily discover and download titles that have been optimised for game play on Xperia PLAY, access recently played games and see information about the games they have downloaded.
Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY will be available globally in selected markets from March 2011
Content partners at launch include:
Sony Computer Entertainment
Digital Chocolate
Digital Legends
Electronic Arts
Fishlabs
Gamehouse
Gameloft
Glu Mobile
Handy Games
Namco Bandai Networks
Polarbit
PopCap
Trendy Entertainment
Unity Tecnologies
Xperia™ PLAY at a glance:
Camera
- 5.1 megapixel camera
- Auto focus
- Flash / Photo light
- Geo tagging
- Image stabiliser
- Send to web
- Touch focus
- Video light
- Video recording
- Video blogging
Music
- Album art
- Bluetooth™ stereo (A2DP)
- Google™ Music Player
- Music tones (MP3/AAC)
- PlayNow™ service*
- Sony Ericsson Music player
- Stereo speakers
- TrackID™ music recognition application
Internet
- Android Market™*
- Bookmarks
- Google™ search*
- Google™ Voice Search*
- Pan & zoom
- Web browser (Webkit)
Communication
- Call list
- Conference calls
- Facebook™ application (from Android Market™)
- Google™ Talk*
- Noise Shield
- Polyphonic ringtones
- Speakerphone
- Sony Ericsson Timescape™***
- Twitter™ application (from Android Market™)
- Vibrating alert
Messaging
- Android Cloud to Device messaging (C2DM)
- Conversations
- Google Mail™*
- Instant messaging
- Picture messaging (MMS)
- Predictive text input
- Sound recorder
- Text messaging (SMS)
Design
- Auto rotate
- Keyboard (onscreen, 12 key)
- Keyboard (onscreen, QWERTY)
- Picture wallpaper
- Touchscreen
- Wallpaper animation
Entertainment
- 3D games
- Dedicated gaming keys
- Flash Lite™
- Gesture gaming
- Motion gaming
- Video streaming
- YouTube™
Organiser
- Alarm clock
- Calculator
- Calendar
- Document editors
- Document readers
- E-Manual
- Flight mode
- Google Calendar™
- Google Gallery 3D™
- Infinite button
- Phone book
- Set-up Wizard
- Widget manager
Connectivity
- 3.5 mm audio jack
- aGPS
- Bluetooth™ technology
- DLNA Certified
- Google Latitude™
- Google Location Service
- Google Maps™ with Street View
- Media Transfer Protocol support
- Micro USB Connector
- Modem
- Synchronisation via Facebook™**
- Synchronisation via Google Sync™
- Synchronisation via Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync®
- Synchronisation via Sony Ericsson Sync
- USB 2.0 high speed support
- Wi-Fi™
- Wi-Fi™ Hotspot functionality
- The service is not available in all markets.
- ** Requires Facebook™ application installed on the device.
Google™ services*
* These services may not be available in every market
- Android Market™ Client
- Gmail™
- Google Calendar™
- Google Gallery 3D™
- Google Latitude™
- Google Maps™ with Street View
- Google Media Uploader
- Google Music Player™
- Google Phone-top Search
- Google Search widget
- Google Sync™
- Google Talk™
- Google Voice Search
- Set-up Wizard
- YouTube™
Screen
- 16,777,216 colour TFT
- Capacitive multi-touch
- 4 inches
- 480 x 854 pixels (FWVGA)
Accessories
- In-Box:
- Xperia™ PLAY
- Battery
- Stereo portable handsfree
- 8GB microSD™ memory card
- Charger
- Micro USB cable for charging, synchronisation and file transfer
- User documentation
Facts
- Size: 119 x 62 x 16 mm
- Weight: 175 grams
- Phone memory: 400 MB
- Memory card support: microSD™, up to 32 GB
- Memory card included: 8GB microSD™
- Operating system: Google™ Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)
- Processor: 1 GHz Scorpion ARMv7
Talk time and networks
- Networks
- Talk time GSM/GPRS: Up to 8 hrs 25 min*
- Standby time GSM/GPRS: Up to 425 hrs*
- Talk time UMTS: Up to 6 hrs 25 min*
- Standby time UMTS: Up to 413 hrs*
- Talk time CDMA2000®: Up to 7 hrs 40 min*
- Standby time CDMA2000®: Up to 405 hrs*
- Game play time: Up to 5 hrs 35 min*
- MP3 playback: Up to 30 hrs 35 min*
- Networks
- UMTS HSPA 800, 850, 1900, 2100
- GSM GPRS/EDGE 850, 900, 1800, 1900
- UMTS HSPA 900, 2100
- GSM GPRS/EDGE 850, 900, 1800, 1900
- CDMA2000®, cdmaOne, EVDO
Colour
- Black
- White
